First Game Played April 26, 1901
Last Game Played Sptember 29, 1902
Moved to New York 1901
Historical Moments
1901: Ban Johnson had seen what happened in 1899, and decided to take advantage. Johnson was president of the Western League, a minor league in the Central region of the country. Johnson decided it was time for a step up and decided to add teams in a few of the cities victimized by the National League’s actions, including Baltimore, a highly successful team that won three pennants. With the new teams in the National League disposed of cities of Washington, Cleveland, and Baltimore, Johnson encouraged the teams to raid NL rosters, and the American League was born. The new Orioles were led by 1890’s hero john McGraw and would finish fourth with a respectable 68-65 record. Before the season manager, John McGraw tries to bring Charlie Grant a black pitcher into the league by claiming he is a Cherokee Indian named Chief Tokohama. However, McGraw’s plan fails when Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey learns that Grant is a member of the Columbia Giants, a Black team that plays in Chicago
1902: On April 29th, Player-Manager John McGraw was plunked five times by Boston hurler Bill Dineen. Home plate umpire Jack Sheridan didn’t think Mr. McGraw was making a game attempt to avoid the pitches, because the Bird’s skipper was never awarded first base. After he was plunked for the fifth time, McGraw sat down in the batter’s box and refused to get off the field. Because of McGraw’s “sit-down” protest, American League President Ban Johnson suspended McGraw for five games. Old Oriole Park was the site of the next imbroglio when McGraw and Joe Kelley of the Orioles got into a heated discussion with umpires Tom Connolly and Jimmy Johnstone. The Orioles manager was ejected, and Kelley let his feelings be crystal clear. The Birds forfeited the game, and both Kelley and McGraw were suspended indefinitely. “Little Napoleon’s” days in Baltimore and the American League were now numbered. By early July, John McGraw was the manager of the New York Giants, and shortly thereafter, several of the Orioles stars would join him. The Orioles were left in a shambles, finishing in last place with a 50-88 record. American League President Ban Johnson picked up the scraps and took over the operation of the Birds for the rest of the season. It would be these incidents that would lead in part to there being no World Series in 1904.
1903-1953: In January AL President Ban Johnson, NL President Henry Pullman, and the owners of the two feuding leagues met for a peace summit. At this meeting in January, the two leagues formed a co-existence, with AL agreeing to a few of the NL’s rules, including the reserve clause, and the “Gentlemen’s Agreement.” They also agreed on a post-season series for one champion, and that the AL would stay with the same eight teams, and be on level par with NL. However, Johnson agreed only when he was allowed to move one team to New York to make the league competitive, and had a presence in the Biggest City. Unfortunately, for Baltimore, the team that was chosen to move north was the Orioles. This would leave Baltimore without a Major League team for 52 years. Baltimore would have to wait its turn to be Major League again, but the Orioles would establish themselves as one of the top Minor League franchises in the International Leagues. In 1914 the Orioles signed a resident from a local boarding school. His name was George Herman Ruth, better known as Babe to his teammates. The Babe was so impressive that the Red Sox signed him midway through that first year, and the rest was history. Eventually, the Majors would return in 1954 with another team called the Orioles.
Logo 1901 | Logo 1902 |
Championship Teams
Orioles Stadiums
Classic Orioles
Gus Triandos 1955-1961 | Ron Hansen 1958-1962 1960 Rookie of the Year | Hoyt Wilhelm 1958-1962 | Jim Gentile 1960-1963 |
Milt Pappas 1957-1965 | Steve Barber 1960-1967 | Luis Aparicio 1963-1967 | Stu Miller 1963-1967 |
Brooks Robinson 1964 AL MVP | Curt Blefary 1965-1968 1965 Rookie of the Year | Frank Robinson 1966 AL MVP & Triple Crown 1966 World Series MVP | Moe Drabowsky 1966-1968, 1970 |
Frank Robinson 1966-1971 586 Career Home Runs | Davey Johnson 1965-1972 | Don Buford 1968-1972 | Pat Dobson 1971-1972 |
Boog Powell 1961-1974 1970 AL MVP | Dave McNally 1962-1974 | Andy Etchebarren 1962-1975 | Paul Blair 1964-1976 |
Mike Cuellar 1969-1976 1969 AL Cy Young | 1971: Four 20 Game Winners Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, Dave McNally, & Jim Palmer | Bobby Grich 1970-1976 | Jim Palmer 3 AL Cy Young 1973, 1975 & 19 |
Reggie Jackson 1976 | Brooks Robinson 1955-1977 1970 World Series MVP | Lee May 1975-1 | Mark Belanger 1965-1981 |
Doug DeCinces 1973-1981 | Steve Stone 1979-1981 1980 AL Cy Young | Earl Weaver MGR 1968-82, 1985-86 | Tito Landrum 1983, 1988 |
Jim Palmer 1965-1984 | Al Bumbry 1972-1984 1973 Rookie of the Year | Eddie Murray 1977 Rookie of the Year | Ken Singleton 1975-1984 |
Rich Dauer 1976-1985 | John Lowenstein 1979-1985 | Rick Dempsey 1976-1986, 1992 1983 World Series MVP | Cal Ripken Jr. 1982 Rookie of the Year 1983 & 1991 AL MVP |
Dennis Martinez 1976-1986 | Tippy Martinez 1976-1986 | Storm Davis 1982-1986, 1992 | Mike Flanagan 1975-1987, 1991-1992 1979 AL Cy Young |
Scott McGregor 1976-1988 | Mike Boddicker 1980-1988 1983 ALCS MVP | The Ripken Family Billy, Cal Sr., and Cal Jr. | Frank Robinson MGR 1988-1991 |
Billy Ripken 1987-1992, 1996 | Joe Orsulak 1988-1992 | Gregg Olson 1989-1993 1989 Rookie of the Year | Cal Ripken Jr. 9/6/1995 Becomes Baseball's All-Time Iron Man. |
Eddie Murray 1977-1988, 1996 1996: 500th Career HR | Mike Devereaux 1989-1994, 1996 | Chris Hoiles 1989-1998 | Roberto Alomar 1996-1998 |
Cal Ripken Jr. 9/20/1998: The Streak Ends at 2,632 | 1999 Baltimore Orioles vs. Cuban National Tea | Arthur Rhodes 1991-1999 | Mike Mussina 1991-2000 |
Cal Ripken Jr. 1991 & 2001 All-Star Game MVP | Cal Ripken Jr. 1981-2001 | Brady Anderson 1988-2001 | Mike Bordick 1997-2000, 2001-2002 |
Scott Erickson 1995-2003 | Jeff Conine 1999-2003, 2006 | David Segui 1990-1994, 2000-2004 | Sidney Ponson 1998-2003, 2004-2005 |
Rafael Palmeiro 1994-1998, 2004-2005 | B.J. Surhoff 1996-2000, 2003-2005 | B.J. Ryan 1999-2005 | Jorge Julio 2001-2005 |
Sammy Sosa 2005 | Luis Matos 2000-200 | Javier Lopez 2004-2006 | Rodrigo Lopez 2000, 2002-2006 |
Jay Gibbons 2001-2007 | Eric Bedard 2002-2007 | Miguel Tejada 2004-2007, 2010 | Daniel Cabrera 2004-2008 |
Ramon Hernandez 2006-2008 | Kevin Millar 2006-2008 | Melvin Mora 2000-2009 | Chris Ray 2005-2009 |
Aubrey Huff 2007-2009 | Ty Wiggington 2009-2010 | Jeremy Guthrie 2007-2011 | Luke Scott 2008-2011 |
Cesar Izturis 2009-2011 | Koji Uehara 2009-2011 | Robert Andino 2009-2012 | Mark Reynolds 2011-2012 |
Brian Roberts 2002-2013 | Jim Johnson 2006-2013 | Jason Hammel 2012-2013 | Nate McLouth 2012-2013 |
Nick Markakis 2006-2014 | Nelson Cruz 2014 | Tommy Hunter 2011-2015 | Wei-Yin Chen 2012-2015 |
Miguel Gonzalez 2012-201 | Steve Pearce 2012, 2013-2015 | Bud Norris 2013-2015 | Alejandro De Aza 2014-2015 |
Jimmy Paredes 2014-2015 | Brian Matusz 2009-2016 | Nolan Reimold 2009-2013, 2015-201 | Matt Wieters 2009-2016 |
J.J. Hardy 2011-2017 | Ubaldo Jimenez 2014-2017 | Adam Jones 2008-2018 | Chris Tillman 2009-2018 |
Buck Showalter MGR 2010-2018 | Zach Britton 2011-2018 | Manny Machado 2012-2018 | Darren O’Day 2012-2018 |
Kevin Gausman 2013-2018 | Jonathan Schoop 2013-2018 | Brad Brach 2014-2018 | Caleb Joseph 2014-2018 |
Pedro Alvarez 2016-2018 | Dylan Bundy 2012,2016-2019 | Mark Trumbo 2016-2019 | Andrew Cashner 2018-2019 |
Chris Davis 2011-Present | Trey Mancini 2016-Present | Anthony Santander 2017-Present | Alex Cobb 2018-Present |
John Means 2018-Present | Renato Nunez 2018-Present | Dwight Smith Jr. 2018-Present |